Patna High Court on Monday asked the Centre to explain why special status should not be granted to Bihar like Punjab, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir for combating the growing naxalism in the state.

Hearing a Public Interest Petition, a division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice J N Bhatt and Justice R N Prasad directed the government to explore the possibilities of granting special status to Bihar to check the incidents of extremism in the state.

The court asked the Centre to file a related affidavit by March 1. The Centre was also directed to extend full assistance to the state government for modernisation of police forces to make it more effective.

Earlier, the Bihar government and the Union government had filed an Action Taken Report in the wake of intelligence inputs about naxal movements on November 13, 2005, when naxalites had engineered the Jehanabad Jail break.

Inspector General (Operations), R R Verma informed the court that the state government had taken preventive measures after receiving the intelligence inputs about their attempt to strike vital installations in Jehanabad.